Lucille Ann ‘Lucë’ Marie (Kempinski) York

ucille Ann “Lucë” Marie (Kempinski) York, 73, died peacefully April 12, 2017, in Waterford, Wis.

She was born Dec. 23, 1943, in Sharon, Penn., to Casimir Kempinski and Lucille (Nunkovic) Kempinski.

She graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and did post-graduate work in Russian literature at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In 1975, while working at Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago, she met the love of her life, Richard Charles York, and the two married soon after.

Lucë was active in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for many years, serving at the local and council levels in many capacities. She was a member of the Queen’s Vagabonds Ecumenical Choir and later the Trinity Lutheran Church choir,  in Harvard. She was active with the McHenry County Computer Club for many years, serving in various capacities and regularly presenting on music and office productivity software, among many other technologies. She worked at the Woodstock Public Library for more than 20 years and could often be seen mending books, which she loved to do.

Survivors include: her sons, David Henry York, Chicago,  and Gregory David York, Racine, Wis.; grandsons, Miles Gregory York and Liam Richard York, Racine; and brothers John Kempinski, Ohio, and Steven Kempinski, South Carolina.

She was preceded in death by her husband.

Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 8, 2017, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 504 E. Diggins St., Harvard, until the memorial service at 11 a.m. A luncheon will follow. The service will be officiated by the Rev. Elizabeth Martin. All are invited to attend and celebrate Lucë’s life of creativity and intellectual discovery.

Donations in her memory can be made to Environmental Defenders of McHenry County at www.mcdef.org.